10 Must-Have Free AI Tools for Researchers to Boost Productivity in 2024

In the rapidly evolving world of academic research, AI tools for researchers have become indispensable assets, enabling scholars to streamline their workflows, uncover valuable insights, and push the boundaries of their respective fields. As we venture into 2024, a plethora of powerful AI tools for researchers has emerged, offering unprecedented capabilities while remaining completely free to use. This article explores 10 game-changing AI tools for researchers that are set to revolutionize the landscape of academic research in the coming year.

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1. Herisa: AI-Driven Mind Mapping for Research Exploration

Herisa, also known as Urisa, is an AI-powered mind mapping tool that empowers researchers to explore and organize their research fields effectively. By simply inputting a central topic, such as “organic photovoltaic,” Herisa generates a comprehensive mind map, showcasing the pros, cons, and examples related to the subject.

Researchers can easily expand their exploration by requesting elaborations on specific aspects, allowing the AI to provide detailed explanations and concepts. With Herisa, researchers can create extensive mind maps, making it an invaluable tool for conducting literature reviews and gaining a holistic understanding of their research domain.

2. OpenRead: Generous Free Plans for Paper Analysis

OpenRead is a powerful AI tool for researchers that offers generous free plans, making it accessible to scholars at all levels. With OpenRead, researchers can upload PDF documents and leverage features like Paper Espresso, Paper Q&A, and AI Summary. The Paper Espresso feature provides concise summaries of research papers, highlighting key achievements, background information, and discussions.

Researchers can also engage in interactive Q&A sessions with the AI, asking specific questions about the uploaded papers. OpenRead’s free plan includes five Paper Espressos, five Paper Q&A sessions, and five AI Summaries per month, making it an excellent resource for researchers seeking to efficiently analyze and comprehend research papers.

3. Explain Paper: Simplifying Complex Concepts

Explain Paper is a completely free AI tool for researchers that simplifies the process of understanding complex research papers. By uploading a paper to the platform, researchers can select specific text passages and request explanations tailored to various levels of comprehension, such as middle school, high school, or 5-year-old.

The AI generates clear and concise explanations, making even the most intricate concepts accessible to a wider audience. Explain Paper also provides related resources, further enhancing the learning experience. With its user-friendly interface and powerful explanatory capabilities, Explain Paper is a must-have AI tool for researchers seeking to grasp complex ideas quickly and effectively.

4. Paper Brain: AI-Powered Paper Analysis and Q&A

Paper Brain is another remarkable AI tool for researchers that facilitates the analysis and understanding of research papers. By uploading a paper to the platform, researchers can ask the AI specific questions about the content, receiving generated responses that provide valuable insights.

Paper Brain excels at identifying key information, such as the best authors on a paper, making it a valuable resource for researchers seeking to assess the credibility and expertise of their sources. With its intuitive interface and powerful AI capabilities, Paper Brain streamlines the process of extracting relevant information from research papers, saving researchers valuable time and effort.

5. Einblick: Effortless Chart Generation with AI

Einblick is an AI tool for researchers that revolutionizes the process of generating charts and visualizations from data sets. With its simple three-step process, researchers can upload their data, describe the desired chart, and let the AI generate a professional-quality visualization.

Einblick supports a wide range of chart types, from scatterplots to bar graphs, making it versatile enough to cater to various research needs. By automating the chart creation process, Einblick saves researchers countless hours of manual work, allowing them to focus on analyzing and interpreting their data. This free AI tool for researchers is an invaluable asset for creating compelling visual representations of research findings.

6. Tavali: AI-Powered Research Assistant

Tavali is an AI tool for researchers that acts as a personalized research assistant, helping scholars navigate the vast landscape of online information. By inputting a research question or topic, Tavali initiates a custom research agent that scours the internet for relevant sources. This approach ensures that the AI generates responses based on actual, up-to-date information, minimizing the risk of hallucinations or inaccuracies.

Tavali provides a comprehensive overview of the researched topic, along with links to the original sources, enabling researchers to dive deeper into specific areas of interest. While Tavali currently focuses on web-based sources rather than scholarly databases, it remains a powerful and free AI tool for researchers seeking to gather valuable insights from the online realm.

7. Power Drill: Data Analysis and Q&A

Power Drill is an AI tool for researchers that excels in analyzing and answering questions about uploaded data sets. Although Power Drill offers an upgrade option, its free version remains highly capable, allowing researchers to upload text, web pages, or files for analysis. Once the data is uploaded, researchers can engage in a simple chat interface, asking the AI specific questions about their research.

Power Drill’s AI generates insightful responses based on the uploaded data, providing researchers with valuable information and saving them hours of manual analysis. To maximize the effectiveness of Power Drill’s free version, researchers can strategically upload review papers or other content-rich sources, enabling the AI to draw from a wealth of information when answering questions.

8. Sizespace: Accelerated Reading and Data Extraction

Sizespace is an AI tool for researchers that greatly accelerates the reading and data extraction process. With its generous free limits, researchers can upload papers, conduct literature reviews, and extract data from PDFs effortlessly. One of the standout features of Sizespace is its “Too Long; Didn’t Read” summaries, which provide concise overviews of uploaded papers.

Additionally, the platform extracts conclusions and other key information, presenting them in an easily digestible format. Sizespace’s AI copilot allows researchers to ask questions and receive prompt responses, further enhancing the efficiency of their research process. By leveraging Sizespace, researchers can condense hours of reading into minutes, making it an indispensable AI tool for streamlining their workflow.

9. NextNet: AI for Drug Discovery and Health Research

NextNet is a specialized AI tool for researchers in the drug discovery and health research domain. This free platform allows researchers to explore new drugs and their effects by simply inputting relevant keywords. NextNet searches through recent literature and gene expression data, providing researchers with a comprehensive overview of their query.

The platform presents the results in a user-friendly, searchable graph format, enabling researchers to identify connections and insights quickly. While NextNet’s focus is primarily on the drug and health research space, it serves as an excellent example of how AI tools for researchers can be tailored to specific domains, empowering scholars with domain-specific knowledge and accelerating their research processes.

10. Chat GPT, Perplexity, and Bing: The AI Chatbot Trio

Chat GPT, Perplexity, and Bing represent the holy trinity of AI chatbots for researchers. These free, powerful tools have revolutionized the way researchers interact with AI, offering a wide range of capabilities and customization options. Chat GPT, the original AI chatbot, serves as a go-to resource for everyday research tasks, providing quick and reliable responses to various queries.

Perplexity stands out for its ability to generate references, allowing researchers to explore further information and validate the AI’s responses. Bing, on the other hand, offers greater control over the AI’s output, enabling researchers to specify the desired level of creativity, balance, or precision in the responses. While these AI tools for researchers may occasionally generate hallucinations or overly broad responses, researchers can easily overcome these limitations by engaging in a dialogue with the AI, refining their questions, and providing additional context. The AI chatbot trio has transformed the research landscape, empowering scholars with unprecedented access to knowledge and assistance.

Conclusion

As we embark on the journey of academic research in 2024, the landscape is ripe with opportunities presented by AI tools for researchers. The 10 game-changing tools discussed in this article, including Herisa, OpenRead, Explain Paper, Paper Brain, Einblick, Tavali, Power Drill, Sizespace, NextNet, Chat GPT, Perplexity, and Bing, offer researchers an unparalleled arsenal of free resources to streamline their workflows, uncover valuable insights, and push the boundaries of their fields.

By leveraging these cutting-edge AI tools for researchers, scholars can accelerate their research processes, comprehend complex concepts with ease, generate compelling visualizations, and access a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips. As the AI landscape continues to evolve, researchers must remain vigilant in exploring and adopting new tools that can further enhance their productivity and efficiency.

In the era of AI-driven research, the possibilities are limitless. By embracing these game-changing AI tools for researchers, scholars can unlock new frontiers, make groundbreaking discoveries, and contribute to the advancement of their respective fields. As we look ahead to 2024 and beyond, one thing is certain: AI tools for researchers will continue to shape the future of academic research, empowering scholars to achieve extraordinary feats and drive innovation forward.

FAQs:

Q: How can AI be used as a research tool?

A: AI can be used as a research tool in various ways, such as:

• Automating data collection and analysis
• Generating insights and predictions based on large datasets
• Assisting in literature reviews and summarization
• Facilitating collaboration and knowledge sharing among researchers
• Streamlining the process of generating visualizations and charts
• Providing personalized research assistance and recommendations
• Accelerating the discovery of new drugs and treatments in health research

Q: What are the best AI tools for researchers?

A: Some of the best AI tools for researchers in 2024 include:

• Herisa (Urisa): AI-driven mind mapping for research exploration
• OpenRead: Generous free plans for paper analysis and summarization
• Explain Paper: Simplifying complex concepts in research papers
• Paper Brain: AI-powered paper analysis and Q&A
• Einblick: Effortless chart generation with AI
• Tavali: AI-powered research assistant for online information gathering
• Power Drill: Data analysis and Q&A for uploaded datasets
• Sizespace: Accelerated reading and data extraction from papers
• NextNet: AI for drug discovery and health research
• Chat GPT, Perplexity, and Bing: The AI chatbot trio for general research assistance

Q: How can AI-powered tools be used effectively for academic research?

A: To effectively use AI-powered tools for academic research, researchers should:

• Identify the specific research tasks that can be automated or enhanced by AI
• Select AI tools that align with their research goals and requirements
• Ensure the quality and accuracy of the data being input into the AI tools
• Critically evaluate the outputs generated by the AI and verify the information
• Use AI tools to complement, rather than replace, human expertise and judgment
• Collaborate with other researchers to share insights and best practices
• Stay updated on the latest developments in AI tools for researchers
• Be mindful of the ethical considerations and potential biases in AI systems

Q: What are the problems with AI research?

A: Some of the problems with AI research include:

• Potential biases and limitations inherent in AI systems, which may skew results
• The risk of AI generating hallucinations or inaccurate information
• The need for researchers to critically evaluate and verify AI-generated outputs
• Ethical concerns regarding the use of AI in research, such as data privacy and security
• The potential for AI to perpetuate or amplify existing societal biases
• The challenge of integrating AI tools into established research workflows and practices
• The need for researchers to continually adapt to the rapidly evolving AI landscape
• The potential for over-reliance on AI tools at the expense of human expertise and creativity

By being aware of these problems and taking proactive steps to address them, researchers can harness the power of AI tools while mitigating the associated risks and challenges.

We strongly recommend that you check out our guide on how to take advantage of AI in today’s passive income economy.